Enhance Your Life
by Nenagh24
Summary: Scarlet Anderson's parents have decieded to ruin her life. If bringing her to Japan in her last year of high school wasn't enough, she seems to have found a strange friend that has dragged her into a even stranger new life. CrossoverAdventure. KuramaOC
1. The Parents

Disclaimer: I don't own any of them, or else I'd be super rich, and wouldn't be wasting time on writing a fic, so don't sue. Please. On to the story!

* * *

**Enhance Your Life**

* * *

"We're _what_?!"

This statement ended life, as Scarlet Anderson knew it. She was a senior in high school, a big fish. The dark haired girl had made it, struggling through years of torture and IB as an underclassman, and her parents, whose names shall live in infamy, went and stole that glorious moment in the spotlight away from her.

'They just had to lose their toys!' she thought exasperatedly. Not the toys that most parents have, cars and supped-up lawn mowers; but their store Anderson Toys.

Scarlet sighed in frustration, 'Why couldn't they have waited a couple months before announcing the merger with one of the most powerful toy companies in Japan? Stupid high-tech merchandise. They are so popular in Japan, but lagging in sales in America.' She glared at the back of her father's head, who was sitting in the row in front of her on the plane. He seemed to be in pain from the red hot gaze as he kept squirming in the chair. Or maybe that was just his wife's low instructions on the finer points of Japanese manners. Luckily for Scarlet, her last school had offered the chance of having Japanese as a language class where most schools only offered the standard Spanish and French.

'Well, it looks like foresight but it was really so I could read the manga early! Maybe my new friends will like it too and not think of me as obsessed as my last friends did.' Scarlet then scowled at the thought of making new friends. 'That's right. I'm facing a new country with below average language skills, no knowledge of their customs, and no bloomin' friends. Angry is a gross understatement.'

Scarlet deliberated between _accidentally_ tossing her drink on her biological parents, or burning them with that deadly gaze. She decided it would be best to boil the drink instead, not wanting to face any punishment in a foreign land too soon. She didn't have any close friends to run to.

Next to Scarlet, in the aisle seat, sat a girl with sunny blond hair, which, she guessed, didn't come out of a bottle. Scarlet had become rather proficient at spotting those types during her high school career. What attracted her attention, however, were the outlandish clothes, which blazed forth in a startling neon green shirt, a black with neon green and white cording handkerchief skirt, and neon green fingerless gloves. This neon green was really giving Scarlet a headache. The girl seemed to be on the edge of sleep. Her head kept on nodding up and down. Finally, just when Scarlet thought the girl had lost all knowledge of the world, her head came up sharply and her eyes flew open.

"Help! Help! I'm being repressed!"

Scarlet sent her a slightly strange look. 'Weirdo.' The girl reached around her waist, feeling for something that wasn't there, ten cursed as her hand came up empty.

"Those stupid customs guards! I _knew_ I should've taken the spirit road! Then I wouldn't have to lose my Kodachi." Her eyes narrowed, then brightened as her came back to herself. Scarlet looked away quickly, not trying to be rude, but she really wasn't too comfortable with the out burst.

"Hi!" she heard a voice exclaim to her right. Scarlet winced, predicting a tense journey, and turned to make discourse with her fellow passenger.

"Uh…Hello…" Scarlet said, hoping that the other wouldn't try to keep up the conversation.

"Hiya! My name is Flyr!" She looked at Scarlet closely, then translated. "Mi llamo Flyr. Mon nom est Flyr. Mue nome e Flyr. Flyr to mooshimasu! Mijn-"

Scarlet cut Flyr off before she got any further. "Hi Flyr! I'm Scarlet Anderson," she said, a little too loud. Not knowing what to talk about, Scarlet searched vainly for an interesting topic. "Um…hm…uh…"

Flyr helped her out at this point. "So, why are you going to Japan?"

"Well," the blue eyed girl started, glancing at her parents, who could honestly care less about what she was doing. Her father really wasn't cut out for this Japanese thing. Scarlet continued, "My family's company was bought by Daidouji Inc. We're merging, so my parents and I are moving over to the headquarters."

Flyr practically squealed. "I LOVE their toys! Especially their costumes!"

Scarlet backed up a little in her seat from this outburst. "Uh, yeah…" This girl was disturbing her, but she seemed pretty harmless. Scarlet decided to distract her. "What about you?"

"I'm going to help some clients, actually!" the neon girl explained.

"Clients?" Scarlet knew she hadn't wanted to engage in conversation, but Flyr _was_ starting to interest her.

"Um, hm." She didn't offer any more information. Scarlet let it drop. She barely knew her, and it wasn't as if her could force Flyr to satisfy her curiosity.

There was a lull in the conversation, then Flyr picked it up again. "So, are you going to school over there?"

Scarlet nodded. "I think it's Meiou High School, but I'm not really sure. Mom's got the info."

Flyr smiled and nodded knowingly, which ticked Scarlet off slightly, and began talking about her own high school experience, in a small town in Japan. They continued chatting until the flight landed.

"Passengers, please return trays and chairs to the upright position and fasten your seatbelts. In a few moments we will be landing in Tokyo Narita Airport. Please do not get up until the plane has come to a complete stop."

Scarlet looked up with, yes, she must admit it, some anticipation. She tried to push it off as wanting to get out of this stuffy plane, but she had always had a taste for adventure, and quite honestly, Japan wasn't the worst place she could have come.

As the plane landed, Flyr looked over at her and smiled. "It was nice meeting you, Scarlet." She rummaged in her pockets, ignoring instructions and removing the safety belt, then handed Scarlet a small piece of paper. "Here's my business card. My phone number is on the back. Call me when you get settled and maybe we'll go out to lunch or something. That way I can say I was your first friend in Tokyo!" Scarlet smiled wryly back at the strange girl and pocketed the card. The plane stopped at the terminal and Flyr stood up quickly. "See ya later!" she called, pushing past the rising people and exiting before anyone else.

Scarlet looked forward at her parents. Her dad was muttering to himself, probably trying to memorize his Japanese greetings, and her mom was ruffling through a few papers. She looked back at Scarlet as she picked up her carry on case. "Oh, honey, hang on a few minutes, I need to find our passport papers to get through customs." Her mother flipped through another file. "So how was your trip?"

Scarlet could hear her dad talking to himself. "Konnichi wa, Daidouji Sonomi-san."

She corrected him. "Name goes before greeting, dad."

"Darn it!" He started over.

Scarlet turned back to her mom. "It was okay," she said, not wanting to give the impression that she was going along with their little scheme to interrupt her life.

"That's nice, dear," Scarlet's mother replied distracted. In a moment, she lifted up the papers triumphantly. Scarlet marched out of the plane, and into the waiting greeting of Daidouji-san and her many female bodyguards. Scarlet wanted to wonder about that, but decided against it. The world was a strange place, and she probably didn't want to know everything.

Sonomi came forward, her strange hairstyle fanned across her forehead as she bowed in greeting. "Anderson-san, ohayoo gozaimasu."

Mr. Anderson and his wife bowed back and he stumbled over the greeting. "Daidouji Sonomi-san, Ko-Konnichi wa."

Scarlet decided to save her dad further embarrassment and slipped into Japanese, greeting Sonomi with a bow and the phrases she had learned in the first year of class. "It's good to meet you, Daidouji-san. We thank you for your hospitality."

Sonomi looked approvingly at the girl and ushered the family to the limo waiting outside, saying that some of her bodyguards would be sure to pick up their things. Scarlet endured the painful car ride listlessly. Sonomi was forced to speak English with her newest coworker, as he kept butchering her language.

Sonomi explained the agenda for the next few days. "I'm going to drop you off at your house so you can try to recover from the jet lag you must be experiencing. We will talk about the business tomorrow." Mrs. Anderson smiled gratefully at this and thanked Sonomi. She was much better at the whole language thing than her husband. This would give her time to teach him how not to terrorize the other members at the meeting tomorrow.

The car pulled up outside an elegant two-story town house. Scarlet looked up in fascination trying to determine where her room could be. After her family took their leave of Sonomi, they entered the house, leaving the gray day outside in favor of a surprisingly nicely decorated living room. After exploring, Scarlet determined that the bottom floor, containing a living room, kitchen, dining room and a half bathroom, was good. Much better than she might have expected. Upstairs, she left the master bedroom to her parents, since they would probably kill her if she tried to swipe it, and took the smaller bedroom at the front of the house. It wasn't too bad, as she had another bathroom all to herself. She had a bed, dresser, and chair in the room, leaving the main decorating up to the new owner. Scarlet's bed however, was completely against her nature, being big and pink and fluffy. She sighed as she fell down on it, staring at the ceiling. 'Well, life had started for me in Japan. It wasn't looking too adventurous yet, but I'm too tired to care.' Scarlet fell asleep in moments.

* * *

Consciousness came back slowly. The dark haired girl was disoriented in her new room, and when she saw pink she began to panic. 'Where am I?!' she thought, looking around wildly. She then calmed down when she realized that she was in her new room in Japan. Melancholy returned to her eyes and she rose to look out the window at the bleak day that seemed to mirror her emotions. 

After a moment of staring at the sky, she looked down. There, below her, was some weird, pink haired freak, staring up at her with a funny look on his face. Maybe it was the fact that Scarlet didn't like peeping toms that made her first impression so bad. She stared back at him, wondering what to do.

She looked back at the bed she had just left, before reaching a resolve and flipping the blinds of the window shut. Scarlet glared at the now shut window coverings and spoke aloud to herself, "Really! The nerve of some guys!"

Turning around she headed back towards her new bed to lay back and stare at the ceiling.

* * *

Translating a CYOA into third person is so much easier then making it first person. If there are any stray 'you's in there, I'm deeply sorry. Expect speratic updates, as the IB program is working me shamelessly to death. 

**Warning:** The next chapter might be a little unusual, but I wanted to fit the extra choice in there. All of the other choices will simply have both out comes but this next one could never happen that way. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Finished: (CYOA Form:) 6/03/04 (Translated:) 4/08/05

Posted: 4/09/05

Edited: 7/15/07


	2. School Blues

Disclaimer: I own next to nothing, and what I do own doesn't include the rights to anything except my own consent… -sigh-

_Extra Warning_: This is a multi-crossover fic. Why? Because crossovers rock! In fact, one was already shown, anyone find it? (It's kinda obvious)

* * *

**Enhance Your Life**

**School Time Blues: My Friend, the Peeping Tom**

* * *

_Last time:_

_After a moment of staring at the sky, she looked down. There, below her, was some weird, pink haired freak, staring up at her with a funny look on his face. Maybe it was the fact that Scarlet didn't like peeping toms that made her first impression so bad. She stared back at him, wondering what to do._

_She looked back at the bed she had just left, before reaching a resolve and flipping the blinds of the window shut. Scarlet glared at the now shut window coverings and spoke aloud to herself, "Really! The nerve of some guys!"_

_Turning around she headed back towards her new bed to lay back and stare at the ceiling._

* * *

Before she could even think of drifting back off again, however, she heard her mother calling from downstairs. 

"Scarlet, honey? Supper time! Don't forget to wash your hands!"

Rolling her blue eyes in amused exasperation, Scarlet did as she was told and then made her way back down to the dining room she had spotted earlier. As she sat down in one of the hard backed chairs, she spotted her father having a bit of trouble with his new pair of chopsticks. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes again, Scarlet held out her hand and demonstrated how to hold the utensils. Her father still didn't look too confident, but took them back anyway.

Mrs. Anderson then brought in the main entrée, a hardy stew, and set it down in the middle of the round table. After seeing the dish, Scarlet looked up at her mother in surprise, "I never knew you could cook Japanese food, mom!"

Her mother looked over at her, smiling, with a faraway look in her eyes. "Well, it all started when I was about your age, honey." The brunette was glad for the food to keep her mind on as her mother went off into one of her extremely long stories. "I was engaged to marry a young man by the name of Shinichiro Kudo."

Scarlet sputtered on the food. 'This is new,' was all she could think. Her father was munching unhappily at this recollection of his wife's memories. She continued. "He was visiting America from Japan, and missed his homeland desperately, so I learned some traditional meals and would cook for him to cheer him up. However, family called him back home, and while he was gone, I met your dad." At this, her father "humphed" into his dish. "It ended up for the best, I guess," her mother ended wistfully. "I hear that he lives in Canada now."

Still chewing, absent-mindedly, Scarlet sat in shock. This wasn't something she wanted to know about her mother: her love life. As far as the seventeen year old was concerned her mother and father had always known each other and had just been waiting to have her. It was _safer_ that way.

The older woman looked over at her husband for a second and noticed his grumpy face. "Oh, come on, dear. You have to admit it was good that you met me, too. I'm much better than that Gladys woman you were dating." Scarlet threw her hands up over her ears. 'Mom was always with dad,' she chanted mentally. 'Dad was always with mom.'

Finishing up her stew quickly, not wanting to hear any more revelations, Scarlet stood up to make her way to the kitchen. Her mother looked up as she did so. "Oh, dear, take my plate, too," she said, handing it over. The younger girl sighed. "And school starts tomorrow, so get a good night's sleep tonight. You don't want to be cranky when you meet your friends. Our suitcases are in the hall, so unpack and go to bed." Scarlet turned with a shrug and put the plates away in the kitchen, then lugged her heavy suitcase up the stairs. That was one thing she didn't like about her room; when she had lived in Florida, there were no stairs in her house. Scarlet had a feeling her legs would be getting lots of exercise from now on.

Scarlet started to unpack her things, mostly clothing, since she wasn't allowed much on the plane, and the rest of the family's things would be coming over later. Only her most precious items could be taken. She carefully unwrapped a couple of framed photos, of her and her friends and family, from her clothing, placing them on her nightstand and dresser, before turning back to her suitcase.

She finished putting all of her clothing in the correct places and then moved to put her small jewelry case on top of the dresser. It didn't have much, but it did hold her small collection of earrings and trinkets, that she or her parents had bought over the years, and a light pink shard on a necklace that her best friend from back home, Jing, had given to her at her last birthday slumber-party. Scarlet quickly distracted herself from this depressing train of thought by pulling out the pajamas she was going to wear that night. After pulling them on, she crawled into bed and was asleep in moments.

* * *

"Honey?" A light shaking woke Scarlet from her slumber. She felt as if she hadn't slept at all. "It's time to wake up and get ready for your first day at school." 

She groaned as her mother left her room, already in a bad mood due to what she could only assume was jet-lag. The day only seemed to get worse from there. The uniform, which she already hated on principle, was a hot pink, cut in one of the ugliest fashions she had ever seen and trimmed with a cord of the most unpleasant mix of green, yellow, and brown that she could think of. Her mother didn't even flinch when she saw it, only ushering her out the door, admonishing her for being so late.

Of course, this push out the door was only made worse, as the peeping tom was still there, looking even more repulsive up close than she could have ever suspected. He was wearing what she assumed was the boy's version of her own horrid outfit and sported one of the worst dye jobs she had ever seen, having found the perfect shade of magenta to clash hideously with the other colors in his outfit. Scarlet flinched, recoiling away from him, and started making her way down the street, hoping she was going in the right direction. The peeping tom followed her at a more sedate pace, but always seemed to be right behind her speed-walking form.

When she finally made it to the school, Scarlet was horrified to find it looked more like a prison than any kind of educational facility she could think of. Making her way into the 'school' the was led to the warden—er, principal's office, where she was promptly yelled at for being late and sent to her third period class. The stalker followed her everywhere. She was constantly on edge, as he stood outside her classrooms, waiting for her to finish only to stare as she walked passed him and follow her to the next class and repeat it all again.

Her only saving grace was a boy with long black hair, who tried to help her get to all of her classes on time and even helped her answer a few questions in the classes they had together. Even when she snapped back at him, bad mood sucking all of the happiness out of her, he just smiled and continued helping her. At the end of the school day, he invited her to the arcade to hang out and meet some of his friends, but Scarlet declined, none too politely.

She gathered her things and just marched out of the classroom and then the school. She didn't even seem to notice that the peeping tom was still stalking her. Scarlet then seemed to have an 'out of body' experience. She saw herself keep walking, most-likely getting terribly lost, but she wasn't controlling any of that.

'What in the world?' she thought to herself. 'Why did I just do that? He was pretty nice! Maybe he could have given me directions home, at least! Go back! Or at least speed up, that creep is gaining on us!'

Her body would not respond to any of this and Scarlet started to panic. Just as it seemed the stalker would grab a hold of her—

BAM!

Scarlet sat up, gasping for breath. 'Oh, my goodness! I was hit by a car and--! Wait. Isn't this my new room?' She cautiously looked around. Everything was as she left it when she went to sleep, and the clock read 11:42 pm. 'Was it . . . was it all a dream?' She blinked before rushing to the window and snapping the blinds open. The street was empty. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"It was just a dream," she said, repeating it to herself. "Just a dream."

After a short trip to the bathroom, to splash cool water on her face, Scarlet trudged back to her bed and hoped that the rest of the night would hold no dreams.

* * *

When Scarlet's mother really did come in to wake her up the next morning, she was pleasantly surprised to see her daughter already up and showered. Her mother gave her the uniform she was supposed to wear and Scarlet let out a small sigh of relief. 

It was a gray and red trimmed Sailor Fuku; the pattern was strange to her, as she personally thought the skirt was just a little short, and she still hated the idea of wearing a uniform to school, but que sera sera. It was much better than that crime against fashion she had in her dream, no, _nightmare_ last night! Scarlet shoved a little breakfast down her throat, kissed her mother on the cheek and hugged her worried father (he _did_ have that big meeting), then left out the door.

Down the street, she saw a boy about her age exit his house, wearing the boy's uniform for her school. It was the real peeping tom but, Scarlet had to admit, he didn't look even half as bad as her nightmare had made him, and at that moment she was still afraid that she would get lost on the way to school. She tried to give him the benefit of the doubt, 'Maybe he was just wondering who moved in next-door and he happened to see movement at my window?' Shrugging she quickened her pace so as to catch up with him.

"Um, h-hey!" The dark haired girl wasn't exactly sure how to address a person in this situation, especially in Japanese. The young man turned around and for a moment she was shocked at how much he looked like that nice boy from her dream. She stopped a few feet from him and he looked expectantly at her.

"Yes?"

"Urm," Scarlet said eloquently, bowing quickly to him. "My name's Scarlet Anderson, it's nice to meet you."

He bowed slightly back, saying, "Minamino Shuichi-desu. It is nice to meet you, too. You and your family just moved in next-door, right?"

Nodding, she smiled, "That's right. I saw you last night from my window." He raised a brow at this but gave no explanation. She let it go for now, hoping for some different information before interrogating him about it. "Would you know how to get to Meiou High? I'm afraid I might get lost on my own."

Shuichi smiled politely at her, "I happen to go there myself, so you can come with me if you like. It would be easier than giving you directions." Scarlet nodded, blushing slightly, ashamed that she hadn't thought to ask her parents before she left.

The walk to school was shorter than she expected. While staying a polite distance apart, Shuichi explained about the school and the classes she would probably have. She appreciated his insight, especially his warning to stay awake in History as the teacher was very strict, and was coming to view him as a friend. He dropped her off at the principal's office with a farewell.

"Good luck, Anderson-san. If you have any problems, you can come to me and I'll help you out." Scarlet nodded, thankful in that moment that she had the courage to ask him for directions. It was good to have a friend already on the first day of school.

The principal was rather nice, giving her a schedule and some general information about the school. Then he directed her to her first class.

Scarlet spotted Shuichi almost immediately, that pink-ish hair was a dead giveaway, and gave a faint smile as he looked up at her. The teacher looked up and spotted her at the same time.

"Ah, the new student from America, correct?" he asked. Scarlet nodded slightly, not liking the attention the class had now pinned on her, and held out a pass. He turned to the rest of the classroom. "Would anyone like to guide…" he paused and looked down at the slip, then continued, "Anderson-san around the school?"

Shuichi quickly raised his hand and the teacher nodded. "Thank you, Minamino-san." He looked back at the new girl. "There's an empty seat a few rows back. Please sit there. Minamino-san will help you out after class has finished." She took the seat quickly, feeling the glares of fellow female students on her back, probably because of Shuichi's interest, and the class began.

Scarlet's classes, beginning with Calculus and spanning through to Japanese, Foreign Language, which was English, as she wasn't stupid, Science, and History, were not too challenging.

Japanese History was perhaps the most difficult, as teachers in America didn't do many cultural studies, but she was tentatively sure that she could pick it up. History had been her best class back in Florida, and studies on the Edo era, no matter how boring, were not going to impede her path to greatness as a History Major. Dramatic music practically played in Scarlet's head as she imagined all the Pulitzer prizes she could win for making astounding conclusions on historical references. She would be the next A.J.P. Taylor, or die trying!

A whap on the desk at the front of the room brought her attention spinning back in. "Anderson-san, would you care to answer this question?" the teacher asked. Scarlet tried to keep from blushing, but was unsure if she succeeded, remembering that she was still in school.

"Yes, sensei," she replied, subdued.

"When did the gaijin first arrive in Japan?" he repeated.

"Um…" she said in reply, blinking slowly. Obviously, she had missed that while she was daydreaming.

Shuichi looked over at her making a fool out of herself and he seemed to feel bad for her, he raised his hand. The teacher glanced at him and sighed at Scarlet's incompetence. "Yes, Minamino-san?"

"That would be in the early 1590s," her new friend replied.

"Thank you, Minamino-san," the teacher said. He looked back at the blushing, blue-eyed girl. "Next time, Anderson-san, please pay attention in class, or I will be forced to assign you a paper on the Sengoku Jidai." Scarlet gulped and nodded. 'That is no mean threat! The Sengoku Jidai lasted for over two centuries!' She smiled gratefully, and slightly sheepishly, over at Shuichi, who had just saved her probably many hours of homework torture. Over the day, she had found herself becoming happier for such a good choice in a friend. He was always very helpful and made sure that she wasn't left behind in any classes.

'In fact, the more that I get to know him, the more he seems like that boy from my dream last night. How strange,' she thought to herself.

After another half-hour in the 'History-from-before-time-began' class, as Scarlet was _fondly_ calling it, the school bell rang and she was released from her first day of self-imposed horror. Shuichi approached her desk before she could begin to leave.

"Anderson-san, before you go home, I was wondering if I could talk to you at the park," he asked, his pink hair swirling around his shoulders, almost bewitching Scarlet, while giving off a nice scent. She stared at it for a bit, dazed, before snapping out of it and nodding, accepting his offer. He smiled. "Thanks. If you would like to kindly wait a few minutes, I'll finish up my job of cleaning the classroom and escort you there."

The brunette smiled back. "Sure, I don't mind. I'll even help out, as you helped me all day today."

Scarlet started humming to herself as she packed up her things. It looked as if today was not going too badly at all, 'Take that, subconscious!' She had made another friend here in Japan and it was only her second day in the country! Her earlier feeling of antagonism towards her parents was wearing off. Maybe this merger idea wasn't so bad after all.

* * *

IB's over! I finally can have a life now! –Cries tears of happiness– I passed and now it's time to go to college… -sigh- 

A special thanks to AbeoUmbra, who inspired this rash of writing. Expect the next update to be sooner than this one (an easy thing, as this update was two years in coming) but I don't know how long this muse will last! Hopefully for at least a few more chapters!

Thanks also to everyone else who reviewed and… my older sister, who has to put up with all my crappy writing before any of you even get to see it.

Nenagh

Finished: (CYOA) 06/04/04 (Translated) 07/14/07

Posted: 7/15/07


End file.
